Improvement in safes



'109. SAFES, BANK PROTECTION AND RELATED DEWCES.

AM. PHOTO-LITHD. C0. N.Y. (OSBDRNES PROCESS.)

109. SAFES, BANK AND REINE@ iiJiCE UNITED STATES Search Raum PATENT vOEEIcE.

IMPROVEMENT iN SAFES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 41,62 l, dated Fcliruaryrl, 1364.

To all whom'itmay concern:` y

Be it known. that I, GEORGE HOPSON, of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfieldand Stateof Connecticut, have invented a certain n ew and useful Improvement in Burglar-Proof Structures; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact descriptionthereof.

My inventionis intended more especially for the protection ofthe locks of safes and bank doors, but may apply in all situations.

rlhe accompanying drawings form a part of this specification. Figure l is a horizontal section through a lock and its Aburglar-proof protection. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the lineS Sin Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a section of apon tion of a burglar-proof box or safe, showing a modification of my invention. It is a section on the line S S in Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a corresponding section on the line S S in Fig. 3.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the drawings.

Doors of iron containing steel have been long used. I make my doors of the same materials; but I construct them in a dierent manner. In my invention the steel is employed in the form of thin sheets presented edgewise to the drill, and between each sheet of steel, I employ a sheet of soft iron, or-of brass, or of other soft material, and the whole welded or brazed together, so that the several materials mutually support each other. 'On a drill `being introduced to this mass it is less able to operate than if the entire mass were steel, and in practice the drill becomes broken and continues to break as often as it is repaired.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation by the aid of drawings with letters 'of reference marked thereon.

A is the exterior plate of the door, and B is the shaft of a dial-lock. Between the works of the lock and the front plate a space is allowed of some inches of thickness in which to locate my burglar-proof construction. A collar, b, on the shaft B is inclosed within a suitable open space, as represented, so as to allow an endwise motion of the shaft B within certain limits. The metal immediately exterior to this is an annular ring or mass of soft iron, R. Immediately exterior to this is a ring of steel, T. Exterior to this is another ring of soft iron, R, which in its turn is encompassed by a ring of steel. Thus I make all the rings concentric, and alternately steel and iron, uni til I have attained asize equal to or somewhat exceeding the area of the works of the lock. VI then weld the whole together and harden the steel portions by ordinary means. It isdesirable that the hardening process shalll have no eii'ect on the iron rings, which should remain soft, as before, and inasmuch as some iron is liable to become slightly hardened hy a sudden cooling in the sainev manner as'steel, only to a less extent, I take care to select for this purpose such qualities of iron as are not thus affected. The entire mass may bewelded upon a stout plate,which forms the inner lining of the door and encircled by a stout ring of soft iron,all welded together as represented in the figure, or it may be secured in place by bolts or other obvious means.

I propose in some instances to make the steel rings slightly irregular in form, or to carefully hold them by wires or otherwise at a little distance apart, and to iill the intervening spaces with brass by the process known as 'biazing,7 instead of welding iron plates in those places. Very soft brass, hard solder, or even quite soft solder mayin some instances perhaps be employed with advantage; but in all cases I take care that the space filled with any soft material alone shall be of too limited an area to render it practicable to drill through it alone. pel the necessity ot'- the cutting-edges of the drill acting alternately upon the hard steel and the soft iron or other soft material at each revolution.

I can, if desired, make the thickness between the front plate,A,and the works of the lock in several layers all separately constructed. In such case all the layers may be built up of rings alternately soft and hard, and mutually supporting each other, as above described, or only one may be so formed, and the other layers may be chilled iron or hardened steel, or other good resisting material alone.

I propose in some cases to place my alternate layers in positions inclined instead of directly at right angles to the surfaces of the safe. This condition may be carried to any extent desired,and any position from the exactly perpendicular position shown in Fig. 9 to an in- My arrangement is intended to comclination of forty-five degrees or even greater may be used with advantage. In applying my invention to the entire surfaces of strong boxes77 or safes I prefer to give an inclination of about twenty five degrees, and to use straight strips or plates instead of annular rings. In eases where no expense is to be spared I propose to apply such material in two or more sets, the plates in each standing at an angle to that in the next, and where more than two such sets are employed I propose to incline the plates in opposite direc tions. Fig. 3 indicates three such sets, the section cutting crosswise of the plates in the layers X and Z, and lengthwise of the plates intheimmediate layer Y. It will be observed that the plates in the layer X are inclined in one direction, and that the plates in the layer Z are inclined in the opposite direction.' This'y arrangement renders it more difficult to drill Y through by giving a corresponding inclination to thedrill, and may allow a structure to be made practically burglar-proofwith the alternate platesR and "I considerably thicker thany would otherwise be allowable. 'Ihe several layers indicated by X Y Z may be welded or sidered necessary for any purpose;'but I prefer to iinish `each separately, for the reason, among others, that it is easier by such means to obtain the proper degree of hardness in the steel portions of the layer Y.

I do not claim interweaving bars of soft iron in a mass of chilled iron or other harder metal; nor do I claim alternate layers of hard and soft materials, except when the plates are presented'edgewise or inclined lto the entering drill, and are welded or otherwise united, so as to mutually support each other and to resist a drill or other violence in the manner described; but,

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim asfnew, and desire to secure by these Letters Patent, is-"j f The compound burglar-proof construction composed of annular rings or plates o'fy hard materials alternating with soft 'material and welded'or soldered together, substantiallyin the manner and for the purpose herein "set forth. p y

- p. GEO." HOPSON. Witnesses: f

THOMAS D.l Srn'rsoN,

H. A. ALBEE. 

